5 random photos I took and I love for no apparent reason.

From now on I'll be posting pictures I once took and I automatically fell in love with. I feel like every photo has a story behind, I'm not a professional photographer at all but I still like taking pictures everywhere I go. My poor Samsung Galaxy doesn't help in terms of photo quality, so I'm glad I have my Nikon <3 These pictures will be posted in no specific order (preference or chronological), just because... Well, I'd like to give my blog a photography touch too! So, hope you guys enjoy ^.^

This is Misha! ^-^ Hah well, Misha's paws. Misha is Esther's cat, she's so fat and adorable and defrhyjuhgfds <3 I'm in love with that cat, really, I have so much respect for her. I've always had a thing for taking photos of cats (that's why my Flickr account is called "catslovenikon"!), and obviously, she's not an exception. I like how her paws look here, they're super fluffy and small, aren't they? ^.^

I took this one in the undoukai (sports festival) the Japanese school in Barcelona organized last year. Most of students are Japanese (or mixed) whose parents work here temporarily, so they take all the subjects in Japanese and the enviroment it's exactly as if they were in Japan... But in Barcelona XD As you can see, it's a kid practising kendo. I've always liked this shot, it was my Facebook cover for a long long time! I don't know, I feel like I could stare at it for hours... :)

Last summer I went for a walk with Oscar, we just wandered around the city taking pictures of what we found or what we liked. We came across a group of young people blowing soap bubbles. We both put the high speed burst shooting option and we started taking pictures of them. Well, I got lucky and after a few minutes of patience, I got the result! 8D It's great how can you see the cathedral next to where we were on the inside of the bubble!

I found this beautiful house going uphill in Cork, Ireland (I think there was something interesting on the top). Honestly, there are no words to express how beautiful it is! Blue is honestly the color I hate the most, but after this shot I think I completely changed my mind :)

Finally...! Hehe *giggles*, Peter's eyes ^.^ I took this one next to Abraham Lincoln's Memorial in Washington DC. We were taking a break after hours walking and walking and sightseeing (OMG WHY THE STATES ARE SO BIG? ;A;), I decided to make a photoshoot of him or something (?). He's still bad at posing but well, he'll get better ;) Well, nothing else to add I think, you all know how much I love his slanted brown eyes! I think he was rather looking at me like "Bish wat u doin'" (Honestly I don't remember), but I love the photo anyway~

Well guys, what do you think about this new post? :) Hope you all like it, and feel free to comment with your impressions or special requests for my next one! ^.^ Thanks for reading and well, happy December to you all! Xmas in finally coming, yay! <3

Love,

CL

Day for tea and replying letters

It all started when Lucas asked me to go for a walk on Thursday. I was just doing some work at home so I said, why not? So yeah, we went to Starbucks, we had a coffee, we talked about everything and anything and well, I went to English class and blah blah blah (insert boring stuff in Scottish accent lol). Now I have a pair of things I still have to do for uni, but nothing important ^_^ First, Art&Culture project I have to polish (&its powerpoint). Second, a presentation of Singapore in two weeks and an essay of my visit to the States. In Japanese btw lol. Anyway, I had a really good beginning of weekend and I don't want to ruin it with me schoolwork again so, let's start with the mail I got his week! :D

Jessica finally replied me ^_^ She's from Washington (USA), and I've always loved the letter paper she sends me! I got a picture of her too, isn't she' pretty? :D She's mixed I think (Filipina/American).

I got this one from Yanill in Florida (USA) too~ I loved the vintage stationery, thanks so much! She has Latino origins, so almost half the letter is in Spanish :D~ I love when she wrote SMILE, YOU HAVE MAIL on the back, it's exactly what I did ^_^

Hoiching from Hong Kong sent me a postcard this time! She also sent me an earphone jack accessory! I've seen it's a thing now so, I put it on my phone~ Looks super cute! :D And also the envelope is super adorable <3 Thanks!

This is the first letter from Viola in HK too ^_^ She used a Donald Duck gift paper for the envelope, and she sent me a Jasmine tea bag, one of my favourites *-* Thanks a bunch, sweetheart <3

Last but not least... Two letters from the UK came!~ They're both new penpals, so I'm so excited! The first one is from Rae, she used a vintage letter paper I really liked ^_^

Second, it was Bethany-May! I really liked her original way to write letters haha~ I could hung her letter paper if I wanted to! XD I found it adorable and a great idea, thanks sososo much, doll <3


Today we went to celebrate Lisa's B-day! <3 We went to a tea shop&bar to have a tea altogether! I really liked the place, I can't wait to go back~ It's in Sants, and it's called Malea ^_^

Since I love tea with spices and stuff, I picked Chai tea with ginger, cinnamon, clove and cardamom. It was amazing! ^-^ I also ordered some sponge cake, I loved it too!

 Left to right: Raquel, Arnau, Oscar, Àngel and Lisa

Me and Raquel <3 

Fancy tea is fancy!

Later we went to Lisa's place and we chatted for a bit. We derped around a little bit too as you can see, haha!

We also talked about our near future. The majority of us wants to apply for an exchange program next year. We all know it's going to be difficult but I'd say we're also pretty excited about it. Some of us want to go to China, others to Japan, Taiwan and well... In my case (and as you all know), I picked Korea :) Let's see how we can manage it, we're all kind of nervous too, we can register from Monday and we have time till 14th Dec. It's a long way but, I'll  just do it asap and stop thinking about it. Looking at this pictures I realize how bad I'm gonna miss my friends once I'm abroad. They mean so much to me I don't want to leave them D: *drama time lol*

Well, not the time to be pessimistic now! I have to catch up with tons of letters now, keep working on my uni stuff and hey! I'm meeting Tyler and more friends for our Belated Thanksgiving tomorrow night! lol We couldn't do it yesterday and I bet Tyler misses his homeland, so he'll love it anyway, even if it's just and excuse for gathering altogether c: I'll try to buy turkey or something tomorrow morning haha, worst case we'll make roasted chicken XD And yup, those are my plans for the weekend! What about yours?

Once again, thanks so much for reading, I'll keep saying it even if I have 25 followers only lol, I love each one of them, as good as my (very few) readers c: Big hug to you all!

CL

Letters, sweaters and good company

Mail this week! ^-^ Wee hee~

First letter comes from Sam in Michigan! <3 She sent me some belated Halloween stuff. It's a pity it's 2 weeks late but I appreciate it anyway! :D

Second letter today comes from Grace in Taiwan! I'm so glad I finally have a Taiwanese snail mail pal, you guys don't know how many postcards I swapped with Taiwanese people, and now I finally have one ^_^ The letter paper was adorable!

The third but not least is from Ji Yeong in Korea <3 Ji Yeong is such a lovely girl, we've been in touch for ages now, but we started snail mailing not so long ago. She's a nice girl to talk with and we usually swap postcards. This time, she sent me a postcard from Haeundae Beach in Busan and Baechu Kimchi ;A; *drools* 너무 고마워요, 지영아~~ <3 I'd love to meet her in Korea when I go there ^_^ 



Last weekend didn't start out well at all, I went to the doctor for something it happened on Friday, but it's nothing serious so, everything's fine :) Lucas was definitely the one who made my weekend! I met him when we were in primary school, he was 1 year younger than me but well, I obviously knew him from there (in Europe, primary schools aren't that big! Haha). We lost contact when we both went to different high schools, but one day we came across each other on the street! He was with a friend in common, and we both were like... "I know you, I think I know you...!". Then we added each other on FB and well.... To be honest we actually started talking nearly summer, and it's a pity! D: He's such a nice guy to talk with, and HEY! He's trilingual! I envy him so much (sob)~ So yeah, the thing is, I finally met him this weekend! He's just the cute blond kid I remembered, but older (of course)! ^-^ We went for a walk and stuff, it was a great chance to get to know him! 

Later i met my friends in the mall, they went there for shopping and stuff (yay! Claudia likes 8D)~ We went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, I got tempura soba, yumyum!

Later I got some matcha bubble tea, I missed it so bad! ;A;

Super low quality lol... Blame Instagram D: sob

Also I bought myself this cute sweater on H&M! I loved it because it's so different from the colors I'm used to wear! ^-^ I usually tend to wear rather beige, brown, grey or white clothes so, I added a little bit of color to my closet~ 

Actually there's nothing much to tell this week haha! I've been watching Breaking Bad lately, I really like this serie! I watched 1st Season already and honestly it's a masterpiece...! However, is kind of tough and traumatizing lol D: (Or maybe is just me that I'm sensitive... No idea!). Anyway, I'll take my time to watch it, I want to start doing some uni work for December so I don't have to rush things later! I don't know how to start though lol, but I guess I can make it :) I also want to watch Evangelion, also the movies 1.1. and 2.2.!~ Sigh, so many things to do...;_;

Well I guess I should leave this here today :) Once again, I'll never get tired of saying it, thanks for reading everyone! Some comments would be great too but I know you guys read at least ;3 (?) Take care and happy November! Time to go download Once Upon a Time, hehe! c:

Love,

CL

Relaxing, dad's b-day and two letters from the States

I'm so happy I'm finally free...! :) I feel so relieved now that my exams are done, I had a really nice weekend so I guess I can't complain at all. I started Breaking Bad, which I wanted to start a long time ago. I liked it so far (2 episodes lol!), and I got the feeling I'll like it more as the serie goes by :) On Saturday I celebrated my dad's 50th Birthday. We celebrated it at home, we made a special dinner with the family and stuff. I cooked one of his favourite things as appetizers, Chinese dumplings (aka jiaozi)!

I made spring rolls too, but they didn't end up as I expected. They were super crunchy but visually they were kind of derp, haha.

 AtleastItried.jpg

Tomorrow I don't have class so, I'll try to make Vietnamese spring rolls: Gỏi cuốn. I miss the ones Lynn (Peter's mom) prepared me, and since I still have rice paper sheets, I'll try to make them as accurate as possible! It's not a difficult recipe, so hope it looks good ^_^ NOMNOMNOM~ On Thursday I'm meeting a friend and we're going to the best Chinese restaurant in the city. I just want to get full of Xiaolongbao and delly soup noodles! ^-^ Finally on Friday I'm meeting another friend to have a coffee, it's been a long time I wanted to see him, so yay! :D I like this feeling hah, it seems I'm socializing more these days! (Yay Claudia, you're doing your best!).

Also, I got two letters this week. The first one comes from Idaho, in the USA from Michelle. I swapped postcards with her once, and we became penpals not so long ago :)

She loves tea just like me so, I'll send her a teabag! I really like swapping teabags with my penpals haha, it gives me the chance to taste different kinds of tea (since in Spain is not a big thing...). For example, today I tasted Genmaicha for the first time! Katherine from SF sent me a bag and I love it now :) It's basically Japanese roasted brown rice tea. It's weird at the beginning but then I loved it! Let's see if I can find it somewhere in Barcelona, I kind of want more right now ;_;!!!

This one comes from Tiffany in Cali, USA. She's such a kind girl to talk to, I loved the letter paper and she's so pretty too! ;_; Isn't it cute?

Well, it's time to go now! But as always, thanks for reading and everything ^_^ Today it's been a weird day, we had the exchange program conference but honestly it wasn't worth it. They didn't give us much info and I'm kind of frustrated about it. I guess I'll just apply for HUFS (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies) or SNU (Seoul National University) and let's see how it goes! Glad I went to buy stationary and postcards with Raquel later haha, it's a way to relax and go back to real life instead of obsessing over my unsure future. I also bought Xmas cards for swapping with my friends, it's the first time I do that but I love the idea ^_^ So, if anyone wants to get one, don't hesitate to drop me a line!

Take care you all, winter is coming!

CL

Freedom and a tiny surprise from the other side of the world

I can't believe it...! I'm free! No exams, no projects... For two weeks! Yay! ^-^ I'm not on holidays but hey, it's a relief! This week it's been pretty moody in terms of weather (appart from my own mood lol), it's been raining but we also had cold temperatures for November (6ºC in the mornings x_x)... And sunny days too! Last Tuesday I was studying and I suddenly saw a beautiful cloudy pink sky by the window, so I just picked up my camera and  took some shots.

Actually is just the sunset, but I really liked the light and everything :) I just wanted to stare at the sky for hours, but I had to study for my Chinese Modern Literature exam on Thursday (which was pretty good I guess!). It was worth it so, time to smile, relax and catch up with my postcard and letter swaps!

Today I got a reaaaally big surprise on my mail. I found a box coming from New Zealand. First I was like, okay... What is this? Then I realised my NZ/Filipino friend Emilio was supposed to send me a letter... But just a letter! :O So I just picked it up and go upstairs. Let's see what this buddy just sent to me...

Well, so this was the package. I opened it and OMG FOR GOD'S SAKE WHAT IS THIS?!?!

An Ebook? WTF no... I can't believe he bought me one, this must be a joke xD

Uh okay, it was c: *phew* But OMFGFGFGFG CANDYYYYYYY WOOT WOOT 8D *Jumps around* And awww, there's a letter and a postcard too aww Emilio why you so sweet ;A;

It was a veeeeeery good star for a "rookie" (as he calls himself!). I''ll try to send some stuff back, he definitely deserves it :D I have a fw ideas of what to send back, but probably he's gonna read this so ;) Hope you like it once you got it, buddy!


Appart from that, I'm excited! Tomorrow it's my dad's 50th birthday (well, tomorrow 10th Nov, it's actually 1 am already lol). I'm in charge of preparing the best dumplings ever, and I'm gonna do it ;) He loves the ones I prepare and it's pretty simple so, I'll update this very soon :) Well, what else for this weekend? Hmm, not much, I Skyped with Dave for the first time today, he wants to trade Spanish classes for Reeses lol and sounds like a good deal so, I'll be more than happy to help him with Spanish. I also want to take a translator job from home I found on my faculty, the salary per translation is pretty legit so I'll do my best :) 

It seems Karma is getting balanced again, yay! I've had a veeeeer y bad week and well, now things are back to normal again.Tyler bruh helped a lot too, his mom sent him a package with so much American crap: MY DEAREST CHEESY NACHOS AND REESES NOMNOM <3 He also gave me two TAZO tea bags, I've seen this brand on Starbucks but not on supermarkets here! It's a pity because it's sooooo good :\ However, I need time to relax and sleep a bit, I need it...! Tomorrow I'm gonna wake up whenever my body says, no alarm clocks, no anything! Just enjoy my time with the family and friends :) i had a good day too, I met Jay who I haven't seen in months...! I met him when I was in high school and he's a really good friend! I've never taken a photo with him because he's sooooooo anti-photos but, in case you guys are curious, this is his blog! :) (He writes in Spanish though).

Well guys, as usual, thanks everyone for reading <3 Take care and have a good November!


CL

More mail and fancy restaurant

Let's start with the lovely letters I got this week :) I'm so happy because I just finished an exam I really wanted to get rid of, so yeaaaaah! <3 Let's go then!

Alina from the Netherlands sent me a postcard attached to her letter! She's 16 and she collects nail polishes! She has more than 100, isn't it incredible? :O

This one comes from Amirah in Malaysia! She's a mixed (Chinese/Malay) housewife living near to Kuala Lumpur. She wants to have a baby soon, awww ^-^ She sounds like a really kind woman, I bet she'll be a wonderful mom!

Alexis from Texas (USA) sent me a really fast reply! Woah, thanks sweetheart! She sent me more tea awww, I will send her some back too ^_^ I love swapping tea as well!

This is my frst swap with Nikki from California (USA)~ I loved the HK stickets and the Halloween card, I still envy how they have such cute Halloween stuff back in the States ;_; <3

Finally this one comes from Katerina in Greece! Yay, kalimera ^_^ She speaks a perfect Spanish and we both visited each other's countries so, it seems we'll get on well quickly! I loved the stamp! :D

Now the delly part of the post comes :) Yesterday (Sunday) I went to a fancy restaurant in the city. It's called Can Cortada, and it's located in the city, but almost in the outskirts, near of a hill! It used to be a "masia" (Catalan version of a farmhouse or something like that) but now it's a well-known restaurant for its Catalan food. (Btw in case you guys you don't know, I live in Catalunya, which capital is Barcelona. It's an autonomous comminuty in Spain, where we have our different culure, cuisine as good as a different language from Spanish, although we're legally part of Spain).

    Outside 

Inside

 Grilled veggies

Stone-grilled steak, nomnomnom

Apple puff pastry with Macadamia nuts ice cream and cinnamon *Q* It was super super delly!

Carquinyolis (Catalan oblong-shaped almond biscuits)

I love it there and I'd love to go back as soon as I can, all the food was amazingly good! I think one of he things I'll miss the most when I'm abroad will be my food, and the food cooked with olive oil in general. I just can't live without it sob, I guess I'll buy bottles and bottles when I leave and put them on my suitcase >_< We usually use it for baking too, so it's most of the times a must in our kitchens. Well, I guess I'll have to learn without it somehow! XD

About today, I finally had my International Relations exam, yaaaaaay! The bed thing is, I realised they were 5 more questions to answer 30 mins before the exam finishes, so I was like FUFUFFUFUUFUFUFU HURRY UP CLAUDIA HURRY UP! So I explained the Holy Bible in the first questions and I did the rest in a hurry ;_; If I had 30 minutres more I would've done a perfect exam! But...! *sigh* Well, I have to keep going though, I have a Chinese literature exam on Thu and I have to do my best again... Let's see how it goes!

I'd say it's enough for today ^_^ As always, thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the pictures of the food and stuff! Don't hesitate to drop me a line or something, I have my comments (even if they're anon) enabled so... Enlighten me, dearies 8D

Love from,

CL

Welcome, November! Take your place, please.

More mail this week hehe! <3 

Ruth-Ann from Arizona (USA). That Alice letter paper was amazingly cute <3 I loved it!

Hoiching from Singapore! ^_^ She's 5 years older than me but she sounds like a cute girl to talk to! 

Christin from Michigan (USA). That's my 2nd letter from her and she's been to Spain! :D I loved the alloween stationery hah, it's adorable and we don't have such thing here! D:

Corey from Singapore. We have so many things in common that I don't really know how to start her letter hah! I bet it'll be soooo long, she loves Barcelona and I love Spore so... I bet we'll get on very well!


As you guys noticed, November is here already! I'm enjoying this weather so much, I really missed cold weather! It's nice to get back to hot teas with milk and blankets ^_^ Yesterday I met my family for "Castanyada", our popular festival in Catalunya on All Saints Day (1st Nov). The day before yesterday I went out with friends at night. Nothing special, I had so much fun clubbing and derping around with them! :) The 1st in the afternoon I went to my grandmother's place for having toasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes, and "Panellets", those sweets you see down there!

They're just small cakes made of almond paste or marzipan and pinenuts (the normal ones). There are different varieties with different fruits (Coconut, orange, strawberry...), and also some made of chocolate. They're soooo delly, but kind of heavy I must say...!

Today I went to Saló del Manga (aka Manga Festival, the biggest Japan related event in Spain) with my friends. Esther dressed up as Jessica in SNSD's Oh! so she got in for free. My aunt works in a famous comic&books editorial, so I got free tickets! Oscar, Arnau and my dear twins Llibert and Gabri came with us.

 They're twins, but honestly I'd say they're pretty different.... XD

Llibert <3 He's one of my best friends! As I said, he can be grumpy sometimes but also he can be the cuttest thing <3



I also took pictures of cool cosplays I found around.

My friend Jiaming dressed up as K-ON ^-^ She looked super adorable <3 

I have an International Relations exam this monday + Chinese literature exam next Thursday... I guess exam season is coming for everyone! *sob* Hope you all had a nice Halloween and do your best on your exams! I'll do the same ^-^ More problems will be coming eventually but, one step at a time, being worried for more than one thing at a time is not healthy! (?) Haha well, thank you all for reading and feel free to comment or anything ^_^

Lots of love,

CL